


Sprint and Helion

by aintweproudriff



Series: Superhero AU [5]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Bombs, Car Accidents, M/M, Needles, Training, albert is fast and elmer is powerful, track star
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-03 09:16:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14565846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: Sprint and Helion, Albert and Elmer, overcame the odds to be superheroes. They really believe that from destruction comes strength.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's been so long since I've posted anything I miss this fandom and I've missed this series!!!

Albert liked to joke that there was no way that his high school track and field coach could have predicted this. Albert had been the school’s star runner, without a doubt, but him being this fast was, by all accounts, impossible. And that was what made it so cool and useful. 

He had been able to go to college on a track scholarship; a good thing, since he never would have been able to pay for tuition otherwise. And he was overjoyed to have the opportunity to learn, but more importantly to grow into his own in new ways and try things he’d never dared in high school. For example, he had found a boyfriend in college. Actually, he found one and then - not lost him per say - but not treated him right. This one, though, this boyfriend was damn near perfect. Albert met Elmer on the first day of track and field practice, and the two of them, one whose best event was 100 meter sprints and one who excelled at pole vaulting, clicked instantly. When Albert’s first boyfriend broke up with him, Elmer was at his dorm room in less than ten minutes with takeout, ice cream, and a Netflix password. It had only taken them another week to kiss, and another half a second to decide that they really did want to be together. 

Elmer had been with Albert when the accident happened in their sophomore year of college. He and Albert sat in the back of a chartered bus, their heads resting on each other and their arms around each other. The rest of the team was closer to the front, gabbing loudly about some brand new topic of debate. 

“What do you think they’re yelling about?” Elmer had asked through a sleepy filter. 

“It probably isn’t anything too important,” was the last thing Albert said before his life changed. 

Another bus, a school bus, crashed into the middle of their bus while running a red light. Albert remembered squeezing Elmer’s hand, then he remembered only blackness. He awoke to a paramedic over him, asking for his name. 

In the hospital, the two of them had been placed in adjacent rooms. The whole team was close to each other; the staff wanted to minimize distress. Albert had to say he appreciated it. His teammates were able to walk long before Elmer was, and by the time Elmer was able to walk to the next room, Albert was still bedridden. It seemed twistedly ironic that he was hurt the worst out of any of them: the greatest shall become the least, and all that.   
When Albert was finally able to start physical therapy, a few of his old buddies had already begun running again.   
“It didn’t seem fair,” he thought over and over as he tried to stand.   
“It doesn’t seem fair,” he felt heat in the pit of his stomach as he clenched his jaw and kept moving forward. 

“It isn’t fair, Al,” Elmer told him. “I know you don’t like me to talk about it, but you had so much you were going to do.” He stepped into the elevator, pushing Albert’s wheelchair. 

“You’re right. I don’t like talking about it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I know how you feel,” Albert sighed, running his hand over the shiny black cushion on the armrest. “I probably know that feeling better than you know that feeling.”

“You probably do,” Elmer leaned down to kiss Albert’s cheek. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“Let’s just go get food, yeah?”

-

Elmer had to leave at 9:00 every night, which was unfortunate for Albert. There were long nights when he wasn’t able to sleep because of the pain or the uncomfortable hospital atmosphere. Those were the worst nights. Elmer would come back the next day or in a few days to visit for an hour or two, and Albert was always so much happier to see him after a long time of him being gone. Elmer was like the one window to sanity in that hospital, and Albert had to learn to treasure it.   
On one of the hard nights, Albert was trying to keep his eyes shut when he heard loud voices in the hallway. A man’s voice - a boy’s voice, really - was talking loudly about how he was so grateful to have an opportunity to see how the doctors conducted research on medicine, and how much this would help his own personal progress in medicine. The people seemed to have stopped right outside his door, and kept talking for a few minutes. So he threw a book from his bedside table at the door. Slowly, it opened and two people stepped through. One was a doctor he’d seen before, one who checked in on him every few days, and another person, who he assumed to be the loud boy, who he didn’t recognize. 

“Yes?” Asked the doctor. 

“Sorry,” Albert grumbled. “You were just being loud and I was trying to sleep.”

The boy’s eyebrows furrowed. “So you threw a book?”

“Yes. Could you pick it up for me?” Albert held his head up as high as he could. The boy did as Albert asked, but he looked confused as to why he was doing it. He gave the book to Albert. 

“What’s your name?” Albert asked. 

“David Jacobs.”

“And what are you doing here, David Jacobs?” he said, his tone likely gravelly from tiredness but kindly inquisitive. 

David stood up straighter, proud, but he hesitated before he answered. “I am learning about how the doctors test medicine, so that when I start practicing medicine, I’ll have an idea of the inner workings of the hospital program.”

“Hm,” Albert nodded. “Well, go do that, David Jacobs. Just not here.”

“Have a good night,” David looked at the name on the medical information sheet on Albert’s bedside. “Albert DaSilva.”

“You too,” Albert nodded as the doctor led the new kid out of the room. 

-

David Jacobs kept coming back to Albert’s room. He said he liked to talk to Albert, said Albert was funny. Eventually, David brought his boyfriends to come visit too, which was when David’s name became Davey. Davey’s boyfriends seemed to like chatting with Albert too, and they certainly seemed to enjoy talking to Elmer. Of course, who wouldn’t like talking to Elmer? The five of them sometimes ended up talking until visiting hours were nearly over, and then everyone except Albert - and sometimes Davey, when he had special research clearance - would have to sneak out and hope not to be caught by the nurses. They were getting better at it, from what Albert had heard.   
And he was getting better as well. He was walking well, and once he was just a little bit more healed, he would be able to get out of the hospital. Everyone was saying it: “Any day now.”

He hadn’t expected Davey to come into his room and tell him that he wanted to treat Albert personally. 

“What do you mean, David?” Albert asked, his shoulders tightening as he sat up. “I don’t get it.”

Davey sighed. “I’ve been working really hard on this medicine, and I need to be able to test it out on someone. You’re the perfect candidate. I really think,” his face was so earnest, like he had to sell Albert on it or something terrible would happen. It made Albert’s insides twist. “I really think it’ll help you gain your old strength and speed back faster than anything else on the market.”

“Better than anything the doctors could give me here?” Albert asks, and Davey nods. 

“Much.”

“I’ll be able to run again?”

“Maybe faster than before,” Davey says, and in his voice, Albert can tell that he means it. 

“I’ll do it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for this chapter: needles, mentions of blood
> 
> I'm so so so happy I'm able to be writing again aaa

“Did you tell Albert everything, though, Davey?” Albert could hear Jack’s voice through the door. He must not have realized that even when he tried to whisper, the was a loud person by nature. 

“You didn’t, right?” Albert had to strain his ears to hear Crutchie’s voice, but it was there, more worried than Albert had imagined Crutchie could be. “You just said-”

Davey’s voice was rushed. “Yeah, no, I didn’t tell him or Elmer anything about work. I promise you. Can we go in now?”

The door opened, not giving Albert enough time to pretend he had been sleeping, or at least make his eyes less wide. It showed on Crutchie’s face - maybe Jack’s too, and he was just better at hiding it - that Crutchie wasn’t so sure about David’s promise. Davey seemed happily oblivious, but Albert’s mouth itched to speak. It opened of its own accord before he could stop it. 

“What did you not tell me that has you so worried?” he said, only realizing how soaked in accusations the words sounded as they left his lips. The faces of his three friends sank, like they had made a dire mistake. 

Jack and Crutchie glared at Davey, who sighed and looked at each of them in turn, as if asking for permission. “Okay, I’ll talk about it. I got you guys into it, so I’ll do the talking, since you don’t like to.”

Albert raised an eyebrow. 

“The truth is,” Davey said slowly. 

The door opened behind Davey, Jack, and Crutchie. Elmer peered through the crack in the door. Realizing that none of their friends heard the door open, too preoccupied with the blood rushing in their ears, Albert shot Elmer a look to tell him to “stay there.” Elmer nodded, and Albert turned his eyes back to Davey. 

“Crutchie and Jack are superheroes. I work at the lab, developing tech that can make them work better. But my focus,” Davey explained, his hands moving as fast as his mouth, “is on superhero biology. Studying how these guys-” he pointed to his boyfriends “-are the way that they are. There’s genetic mutations that happen when their accidents happen and they train to overcome them. I’ve figured out how to replicate those mutations in a kind of serum, I call it a plasma. I’m thinking that if we could inject it into you, and then you could get back to training with your running, you could become superhero-like fast. And then maybe join the agency.”

Elmer’s jaw had dropped. 

“Prove it,” Albert raised his chin. “I don’t believe it. If you’re superheroes, then which superheroes are you?”

Jack grinned, proud. “I’m Rogue, and Crutchie is Captain Cannon.”

“No you’re not.”

“What makes you say that?” Crutchie challenged Albert. 

“I just, I mean.” Suddenly, Albert stuttered, and he couldn’t pinpoint why he would. “Rogue and Cap are, like, buff and crazy charismatic and always jumping into danger. You guys are, y’know, Jack and Crutchie.”

Crutchie laughed. Albert must not have understood the joke. “What could we do,” he leaned forward on the balls of his feet, “to prove it to you?”

“I don’t think there’s anything you could do,” Albert grinned. “Since I’m not going to believe you.”

Without a word, Crutchie jumped up into the air. High. And stayed there. And just like that, Albert understood that Crutchie was flying.   
Jack, with quite a bit of difficulty, picked up the table next to Albert’s bed. “I can’t bring guns in here,” he grunted, “or else I’d show you the sharpshooting I can do. I’ve gotten decently strong, though.” He passed the table to Crutchie, who held onto it like it was a sheet of paper. 

“I take it back,” Albert sighed as Crutchie floated to the ground. “It was actually pretty easy to convince me.”

“Me too,” Elmer said meekly from his spot in the doorway. 

“Fuck, was the door open?” Jack whispered, in his own loud way. 

“Well,” Davey shrugged. “At least we don’t have to explain it to Elmer too.”

Crutchie and Jack looked at him like that wasn’t good enough. 

“Come on,” Davey whispered to them. “Elmer comes with Albert, I already told you. They’re like us. And maybe-”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Davey,” Crutchie smiled at him. “Albert still hasn’t really agreed to do the superhero test.” He pointed at Albert with an open palm. 

Albert nodded vigorously. “I wanna do it.”

“I want him to do it,” Elmer added. “I think it’s incredible that you guys are - you know. I mean, I’ve only got a Captain Cannon highlights reel that I watch so often that it practically lives in the DVD player.” He turned bright red. “Oh. That’s embarrassing.” 

“That’s sweet of you, actually,” Crutchie smiled at Elmer like he was a two year old. “I knew that highlight reel sold more copies than people said it did.”

“If El’s for it, then I’m totally in,” Albert said, mostly attempting to get back into the conversation. “I mean, I was in already. But if he wants a superhero boyfriend and I’ve got the opportunity, who am I to-”

“We get it,” Jack rolled his eyes. “You two are disgusting.”

“So are you!” Albert protested. 

“Heh,” Jack laughed. “Okay, that’s fair actually.”

-

Once Albert was out, Davey collected him from the hospital and took him and Elmer to the subway. They took it for a long time, Albert couldn’t quite tell, until he had lost track of where exactly they were. When Davey stood up, so did Albert and his boyfriend, and they stepped out of the subway car. Slowly, the three of them walked through the loud station full of yellow and blue and red advertisements and shirts on people passing. They came to a corner, dingy but quiet, and Davey did something that made the wall move. Behind it was a dark corridor that led to a darker room. Davey led them down the passageway until they saw lights; at first, they were only tiny blinking lights. Then they were bright yellow, filling up an entire room. 

“So here’s the agency,” Davey turned around to them. “What do you think?”

Albert blinked in the light and looked around at the desks filled with computers, all of them running software that would analyze superhero fights and maps of the city. He looked around at the superhero logos branded on different desks, at the coffee cups on each of them, at the lipstick stains on only a few of the cups. He looked at the superhero costumes on the wall and in the adjacent wall, and tried to keep his jaw hinged to his face. 

“This is awesome,” Elmer answered for him. 

“You’ll have plenty of time to see all of it later,” Davey promised. “For now, should we get started?”

Albert and Davey walked into a back room filled with medical supplies. Elmer wanted to come with them, but Davey asked him to stay outside, just so that there wouldn’t be extra pressure; he seemed content to walk around the agency in awe. 

“This should only hurt a little bit,” Davey told Albert. “It’s just like getting a shot at the doctor, but it’s going to be hotter as it goes into your bloodstream, okay?”

Albert nodded, still in shock that this was happening. Davey took his arm and stuck the needle into his arm, and Albert inhaled sharply. He tried to exhale, but found himself unable to do so as the plasma rushed through his blood. It burned, and then it stopped. 

“How do you feel?” Davey asked. 

Albert shook his head. “I, um, I don’t know. I’m a little tired, but I also feel like I could.”

“Like you could?”

He smirked. “Go for a run.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOHHHH


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter's really short but I love these boys

Sprint found himself racing against the flow of evacuees; all of them rushed away from the destruction, but he was about to throw himself into it. He steadied his breathing, to try and keep his head steady, and found it remarkable that he was able to do so when he was running so hard. David had recently clocked his top speed to be 106 miles per hour, so he assumed he was going roughly that fast towards the bomb detonation site. People passing him weren’t even able to see him: it was like he didn’t exist. 

The noise as he approached got louder and louder as concrete began to crumble under his feet. Elmer - Helion - was already down at ground zero, trying to get people out of the demolished building. Sprint looked up to see his boyfriend grabbing onto people and flying out of the rubble. Davey’s plasma injection had worked so well on Albert, but the two of them decided that they were a team in everything they did. So he injected plasma into Elmer, as well, and actually gave him powers of flight and invisibility. Elmer had been training, too. They both had. They were strong enough humanly to lift as much as needed, even whole people, and able to either fly them out or run them out. That was the main goal, at least until the building completely collapsed. Get everyone out, and then find the person who had done this. 

So they did. Albert scooped up two little kids, and ran them out as fast as he could, finding a woman who must have been their mother, the way she reached for them. He dashed back, finding a teenage girl. When he put her down, another girl rushed to her and enveloped her in a hug. Then an old man, to whom no one came to see. Albert pushed the sad thought out of his head: there were more important things to deal with at the moment. He watched Elmer fly overhead as he went back, and Elmer waved at him despite the woman in his arms. Elmer was, besides Jack and Davey and Crutchie, the only one who could see Albert when he was moving this fast. And Elmer wasn’t even able to see him, it was just that he had gotten so good at knowing where Albert was instinctively that he didn’t need to see him. 

When they were 100 percent sure that there was no one left in the building, they shot each other looks of affirmation. Elmer dropped down to the ground and touched Albert’s shoulder gently. They had decided not to show too much affection when on missions, since they didn’t want someone to end up using that against them. Elmer lifted off again, and Albert kneeled down to get in starting position. In synchronization, they took off to follow the trail that they had been given.   
Albert turned his headset on, so that Sarah Jacobs could give him instructions. 

“Keep going up that street, then turn left at the bodega, guys,” she directed. They did that. “Quantum should be just further down that street, based on our latest information.”

They could see him, poised to strike again at the end of a trail of destruction. 

“Fuck, okay,” Albert whispered. Then, louder, he spoke into the headset. “I can get there, El, force him to get back and not detonate that. Then can you take it from him and we’ll let Captain and Rogue come in and do the rest?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Helion answered. Albert went in for it, running laps around Quantum to confuse him, whipping up air and debris into the villain’s face. Confused, Quantum staggered back. From above them both, Elmer swooped down and grabbed the bomb out of Quantum’s hand. Then, the two of them fled, passing their incoming friends on the way out of the scene. Rogue and Captain Cannon nodded at them, and they returned the greeting. 

“Good job, boys,” Sarah Jacobs said into their ears. “I think Medda’s going to be impressed with how that mission went, and hopefully you guys can go on some missions of your own soon.”

They kept going, Elmer above Albert. Eventually, Elmer reached down and picked Albert up. The two of them perched on the landing pad at the agency, only a few scrapes on both of them. When they were out of sight from the outside world, Elmer grabbed Albert’s shoulders and pulled himself close to his boyfriend. “Good job, Al,” he whispered. 

“You too,” Albert grinned. “We’re really doing this, huh?”

“I think we’re well past a stage of being surprised.” Elmer kissed his cheek. “But yeah. We’re really doing this.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments make me sososo happy!!!


End file.
